


Welcome to the Club

by pherryt



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Power Pack, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Venom - Fandom
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Hank McCoy - Freeform, Misunderstandings, Other, Science, Superhero kids, Venom to the rescue, james power - Freeform, looking for alternative food sources, margaret power - Freeform, not so secret secret identities, protective adults, reed richards - Freeform, side characters; - Freeform, sue richards - Freeform, superhero fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 11:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19061383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherryt/pseuds/pherryt
Summary: When Eddie sees news reports about superhero kids, he thought someone was yanking his chain - until him and Venom find themselves trying to fend off those kids without actuallyhurtingthem.





	Welcome to the Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feathers_and_cigarettes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feathers_and_cigarettes/gifts).



> possibly a crack fic? I don't even know. 
> 
> i just know i saw Venom and i loved it and i thought, i'd love to write something for Venom and i had no clue what to write and as always, my brain wondered what it would be like if my first fandom, the Power Pack, met Venom. They DO live in the same universe, after all...sort of. i mean, how many marvel universes are there?
> 
> ANYWAY - You do NOT need to know who the Power Pack are to read this but short hand guide if you want it: the Power Pack are 4 kids, all sisters and brothers - who got their powers from an alien.
> 
> from youngest to oldest:  
> Katie - 6 yrs - yellow suit - codename Energizer (Can disintegrate things and use that energy to fire power balls)  
> Jack - 8 yrs - Blue suit - Codename Massmaster (Can move his molecules closer together or further apart - here he does the latter and becomes a cloud)  
> Julie - 10 yrs- Pink suit - codename Lightspeed (Flies really fast, leaves a rainbow trail behind her)  
> Alex - 12 yrs - white suit - codename Gee (can manipulate his own gravity and the gravity of anything he touches - when his power is active, his suit turns black)

Eddie stared at his laptop in bewilderment.

Looked like he and V weren’t the only super heroes in town anymore. Still, the reports made no sense. Flashy, bright colored spandex? Check. Strange and fantastic superpowers? Check. Four of them? Okay, well, not the first time superheroes banded together – just look at the Avengers.

But _kids?_

Someone had to be yanking  _somebody’s_ chain. Because Eddie did research for the Brock Report on the rise of mutants and their powers and one thing he’d learned fairly quickly was that most of the scientific circles – on both sides of the issue - agreed that the powers of mutant kids didn’t manifest until puberty.

And yet, witnesses were  _insisting_ that not only were they children, but the youngest was about 6 years old.

Sighing, he shook his head, feeling V ripple around his skin, sliding around till a head could peer at him.

“What’s wrong, Eddie?”

Eddie sighed and shut the laptop, reaching out to scratch Venom under the chin. Venom purred – _It’s not purring, Eddie. We are not a cat_ – and their wide white eyes blinked shut contentedly.

“We’re going to need to be a bit more careful when we go out. There’s reports of other superheroes about, and you know we ain’t in most of their good graces right now,” Eddie said.

“Who cares what others think of us?” Venom said, still purring. “We have each other, that is all that matters.”

“Aww, that’s sweet, V,” Eddie said. “But I just don’t want us to take any unnecessary risks.”

Venoms eyes blinked open and the symbiote shifted their head so their eyes were level with Eddies. Somehow, Eddie’s Other radiated consternation, giving him puppy dog eyes. “But, we’re hungry, Eddie.”

“Of course you are, love,” Eddie said with a resigned sigh.

Venom twisted and twined about Eddie. “You wouldn’t want us to starve, would you Eddie?”

“Of course not,” Eddie reassured. “Just, we gotta be _real_ careful, okay? It’s not just you and me in town anymore.”

“Always careful,” Venom said proudly.

“Yeah… not really.” Eddie stood. “Okay, let’s do this and at least _attempt_ to keep a low profile this time?”

“You have no faith in us.”

“I have plenty of faith, V. I also know us,” Eddie said, sliding his window open, Venom sliding out over his skin and making the leap onto the fire escape.

Eddie had a baaaaad feeling for tonight. But he couldn’t just _starve_ his Other. Chocolate only did so much, and Tony was such an ass about Venom's tendency to eat people, that he couldn’t be bothered to help research other alternatives.

Okay, Eddie reflected, that was probably mostly his fault. Tony and he had rubbed each other wrong since _before_ Venom came along. First and foremost, Eddie was a reporter and the media in general had a love hate relationship with Tony Stark, one which Eddie may have aggravated on occasion.

But really, it would only benefit _everyone_ if an alternative could be found. Maybe he should hit up Banner instead? Or Reed Richards or Hank McCoy – really, Tony wasn’t the _only_ scientific genius out there, the problem was getting into contact with one of them.

Venom crept around the buildings, looking for just the right situation to intervene, to help someone and help _themself_ to a little snack.

Yeah… Eddie had a bad feeling about this.

***~~~~~## <<<<<<<<~~~~~~~>>>>>>>##~~~~~***

30 minutes later, Eddie couldn’t believe his eyes.

The reports had been right. Reports he’d have sworn had been made up – it was almost April Fool’s, after all – but they _hadn’t_ been.

Venom slurped up the last of their bad guy, a satisfied hum as the meal hit their stomach, only seconds before the four kids –  _kids!_  – attacked.

They were young, naïve perhaps, but had obviously done this before. Before Eddie could process much more than  _Jesus fucking Christ, they’re actually kids!_ Venom swiped at the boy in blue with claws extended.

_V! No!_  Eddie yelled and Venom hesitated, but his momentum still carried him through the kid. Eddie inwardly flinched as he waited for the viscera – only to gasp in relief when the kid dispersed into a cloud. Well. That was handy.

“But Eddie – they’re attacking us!” Venom protested, dodging a car that the kid in white - now black? – had just thrown at them.

_They’re kids! And they’re superheroes. We’re not fighting them._

“But aren’t  _we_ superheroes too, Eddie?” Venom swung up and started climbing the building, moving quickly. Eddie didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, but he had a feeling the kids were following them.

He was right.

“You’re not a superhero! Superheroes don’t  _eat_ people!” one of them yelled. Something bounced off Venom's hulking shape as he scrambled over the side of the building onto a roof.

_Don’t fight them, V. Just try to lose them and then as soon as we’re out of sight, you go out of sight and let me come out, all right? We’re not fighting kids._

“But he was a bad guy! I thought we were allowed to eat the bad guys?” Venom growled as they started bounding from rooftop to rooftop.

_Well, technically, murder’s illegal no matter if they’re good guys or bad guys,_  Eddie noted.  _Did we lose them yet?_

“No.” Venom growled in frustration. “The rainbow girl is very fast, and she carries the others.”

Okay. So… now what? Eddie tried to think ahead. The cloud kid couldn’t really hurt them, could he? And neither could the rainbow kid – but apparently, she could keep pace with Venom so… and what did the other two do? Well, the oldest kid seemed super strong but he’d been careful not to try and engage Venom hand to hand which, really, Eddie was just damn grateful for. He had a feeling Venom could still hurt the kid pretty badly.

What about the littlest one?

And how would they get away?

_V! Are they still on our tail?_

“We do not have a tail.” Venom paused. “But yes.”

_Head for the bay. We’ll go underwater and wait them out._

Venom grabbed the corner of a building as they flew past it, swinging themself and Eddie 90 degrees and rocketing out across the rooftops toward the bay, Eddie wishing the whole time he could see behind him – not that he normally enjoyed their rooftop traveling (heights, ugh, if he could shudder right now, he would) but he desperately wanted to keep an eye on those kids.

The littlest one couldn’t have powers too, could she? But then, the others shouldn’t either, so he had a feeling that yes, yes, she did. _Fuck._

How did Eddie get himself into these situations? He’s not going to fight a bunch of _children_!

“Energizer! Blast him already!”

“But – I don’t have enough energy, Gee!”

Oh god… just Eddie’s luck. The littlest one had a power that could potentially hurt them, didn’t she?

“Massmaster – slow him down, will you?” the same voice shouted, the oldest kid probably, leader by default was Eddie’s guess.

“How genius?”

“Uh… by blinding him? Duh!”

“Oh yeah.”

Dammit, which one was which? The cloud kid swirled around them – that must be Massmaster, so Gee was the leader. If Eddie couldn’t see them, maybe he could pick them out by their voices -

**_Kra-kow!_ **

The blast hit the roof and sent Venom skittering and sliding, their momentum slowed significantly. The cloud form of the boy still wove about him unrelentingly, though it didn’t hinder Venom in the slightest – if Venom had human eyes, it might have worked – but the rainbow girl was dizzying, a blind light reflecting painfully in Venom's eyes.

“That’s it, Energizer! Blast it again! Lightspeed, keep the monster distracted!”

“Are we a monster, Eddie?”

_No, love,_ Eddie said, sending a wave of comfort and love to his other.

“But Gee, I don’t want to hurt anybody,” a small voice said, sniffling.

“He was  _eating_ someone, Energizer!” Gee said angrily. “Now disintegrate something and shoot him again! Lightspeed can’t keep this up.”

Venom swiped at Lightspeed with a growl, even as Gee barked orders at the other kids.  _Careful, V._ Eddie cautioned, though he knew Venom wasn’t really trying to knock her out of the sky, just scare her enough that she’d think he was going to and back up a bit.

How were they going to get out of this without hurting the kids?

Lightspeed broke off and Eddie felt a bare moment of relief before disaster struck.

Energizer – the littlest – shrieked, the building crumbling beneath her. How? There just hadn’t been that much damage to it! She stumbled, glowing slightly and toppled over the side flailing and crying out, but Lightspeed wasn’t close enough to get to her in time.

_V! The kid!_

“Katie!” Lightspeed screamed, flying quicker than Venom or Eddie had seen yet.

“We’ve got her, Eddie.” Venom assured, stretching out to form a net beneath her, catching her, cradling her gently as he pulled her slowly back up to the roof and placed her down.

Lightspeed landed seconds later, grabbing a sobbing Katie into her arms. A few moments after that, the boys joined them and Venom stood frozen on the roof, trying not to re-attract their attention as the children reassured themselves that their youngest was all right.

Now would be a good time to leave, if they could get out of there without the kids noticing.

_Yes,_ Venom agreed silently, though Eddie hadn’t verbalized the thought, hadn’t solidified it for Venom, but they shared a body, a mind, and they heard Eddie anyway. They edged towards the edge of the rooftop, ready to plunge down when he froze again as the boy in white stood and turned to face them, fists clenched.

“Why? Why did you save her?”

Venom paused. “We are not bad guys and we do not fight children,” they said gruffly.

“But you  _killed_ someone! And  _ate_ them!” Gee protested.

_V – let me out._

Venom slid back from Eddies’ skin and the children all gasped, their eyes growing wide.

“What  _are_ you, mister?” the cloud kid asked.

“I’m human. Venom’s an alien. I’m his host. Think… roommates,” Eddie said slowly. “Look, V’s not bad, okay? I know it  _looked_ bad, but I promise, that guy they killed was a bad guy. They need certain brain chemicals to live, okay? And we’ve been trying to find alternatives, but we haven’t been successful yet. Not exactly a scientist here, know what I mean? Chocolate helps, but it’s not enough. But it doesn’t make us bad guys.”

Venom popped out over Eddies’ shoulder and the children gasped again.

“Not bad guy, promise.”

“So, you’re saying… if you had the right stuff you’d stop eating people?” Gee asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Eddie said. Venom sighed and gave Eddie a pair of eyes but then he nodded, finally.

“Well… maybe we could help you with that?”

“No offense, but you’re kids – how?”

“Mr. Fantastic could probably help you,” Energizer said. Eddie startled when he noticed how close she’d gotten. “If we tell him you saved my life, I’m  _sure_ he would.”

“Wait, you know Mr. Fantastic?” Eddie said, blinking in surprise. Why was he surprised? They might be kids but they were superheroes too, obviously.

The four of them nodded in near unison. That was… maybe a little creepy.

Venom turned his head to look at Eddie. “Who is Mr. Fantastic?”

“He’s a scientist – like Tony.”

“We do not like Tony,” Venom grumbled.

Eddie sighed. “I know, V.” he looked at the children. “Thanks for the offer, but uh, going to New York? Not really a good idea for us. And last I checked, that’s where Mr. Fantastic is based.”

“Actually, he’s here for a science conference,” Gee said.

Lightspeed nodded. “That’s why _we’re_ here too. Our dad is also a scientist - I mean!” She clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes going wide.

“Way to keep our secret identities, bonehead,” Massmaster snarked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It wouldn’t be much of a secret if you four are going to help us talk to Mr. Richards, unless you plan to sneak us into the science conference looking like that?” Eddie gestured at the kids brightly hued suits – a contrast to the drab greys and blues Eddie tended to wear, or Venom's all-consuming black.

The kids eyed each other doubtfully, then moved away from Eddie and Venom to whisper amongst themselves.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Eddie called out, “I’ll tell you _my_ name, then we each have a secret to keep.”

The kids paused and Gee nodded after a quick look at his brother and sisters. “You’ve got yourself – er, your _selves_ – a deal.”

***~~~~~## <<<<<<<<~~~~~~~>>>>>>>##~~~~~***

The next day had Eddie meeting the Power kids out front of the expo center. He tugged nervously at his collar and Venom hissed at Eddie in their mind.

_Eddie, if you want us not so tight, just say so._

“Can’t help it, love,” Eddie whispered. “You’re perfect, I’m just fidgeting. There are so many ways this could go wrong.”

_You don’t have to do this, just for us._

“It’s worth the risk, V,” Eddie assured his other.

“Mr. Brock!”

Eddie turned to see Lightspeed – Julie – waving at him as the children arrived at the center. It was still early, so there was only a small crowd. He gave her a half wave and a nervous smile, noting that their parents were still there.

This was not going to go well, was it?

“Remember, V, their parents don’t know they’re superheroes, so we have to be really careful,” Eddie muttered before heading over to join them.

_Got it, Eddie_.

The kids looked different outside their costumes, but still easily recognizable. Gee was the oldest, Alex. Julie was Lightspeed and the second oldest. Jack was Massmaster, which left Energizer – Katie – as the youngest at 6 years old.

“Mr. Power, Mrs. Power, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Eddie said, holding out his hand.

“And you, Mr. Brock. You’re something of a celebrity back home, you know? It’s a shame they chased you out of town – especially after you were proved right about the Life Foundation,” Mr. Power said, giving Eddie’s hand a firm but congenial shake. Confident, but easy going, much unlike most of the scientists Eddie ever bumped into.

“So, how did exactly did Julie win this opportunity? I must admit, this was the first I heard of it,” Mrs. Power asked, her hands resting lightly on Julies shoulders.

“Well, it was an article she wrote about young mutants for a contest my employers were holding. If it had been up to me, she’d have won straight out, but she _was_ runner up and when our winner had to bail for the event, we were scrambling to replace him. It was just our luck that the timing worked out,” Eddie said, beaming.

_Is this really going to work? Even we can see through this._

_Don’t jinx us,_ _V_ , Eddie thought really hard, _and don’t let me sweat. If I sweat, they’ll think I’m up to something._

_We **are** up to something._

_They don’t need to know that._

“Oh, Julie, that’s wonderful, honey!” Mrs. Power gushed.

Mr. Power beamed. “I always knew you were bright, kiddo. I think I must have the best, smartest kids in the world.”

Eddie’s jaw almost dropped. They’d bought it? Hook, line and sinker? Jesus! _Eddie, there’s something wrong with them,_ Venom said, their voice tickling Eddie’s mind _._

Before Eddie could comprehend it, the 8 of them had entered the expo center and split off, Mrs. Power giving all the kids hugs while Mr. Power reminded them to stop by his demo booth later and not to get into any trouble.

He stood frozen, the kids surrounding him, as he stared at the disappearing backs of their parents. “Holy fuck,” he said. he turned to the kids and jerked a thumb at their parents. “You know that’s not normal, right?”

“Mister, in our family, I don’t think there’s any such thing as normal,” Alex said. Julie looked away, her lips tightening. Katie looked down with a frown and scuffed her foot across the floor.

“Who wants to be normal anyway?” Jack proclaimed loudly. Too loudly.

“O-kay, then,” Eddie said, clapping his hands together and grinning as broadly as he could. “Let’s get this show on the road! So where do we find Mr. Richards?”

Katie grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. “This way!” she said, tugging him along.

Eddie let himself be led, his neck craning as they passed each booth. A number of men and women – some he recognized, most he did not – waved at the kids as they passed, a few calling them by name.

Wait, was that Hank McCoy? Eddie almost tripped as they passed by the furry blue mutant and he could _not_ take his eyes the famous scientist who definitely seemed to know the kids well.

Mutant, superheroes… they’d probably worked together a few times.

“Here we are,” Alex said.

“Huh,” Eddie said. “He gets his own room?” Shouldn’t Dr. McCoy get his own room too?

The door slid open and Mrs. Richards stood there. “Hello, kids. Franklin’s not here today.”

“Oh, that’s okay, we need to talk to Mr. Richards. We’ve got a…” Alex looked around, “a little problem.”

“Actually, me,” Eddie broke in. “It’s me, I’ve got a bit of a problem.”

_Are we a **problem** , Eddie?_ Venom asked, their mind voice small and worried.

_No, love. We’re just going to see if Mr. Richards can make our lives a little easier_ , Eddie thought back. I hate that you’re hungry all the time.

“I’m sorry, kids, Reed doesn’t really have the time for – “

“Please?” Katie said. “It’s really important! It’s a matter of life and death!”

“Literally,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Jack!” Julie hissed.

“What’s going on?” the voice came from above and Eddie startled, looking up over Mrs. Richards to see Mr. Richard’s head curling around the edge of the door and poking up over her shoulder.

Kinda like Venom, actually.

Eddie reached back and scratched at the back of his head, looking around. “Um… I don’t feel comfortable talking about it out here – can we come in?”

“Hey, aren’t you Eddie Brock? Tony hates you!”

Eddie groaned, closing his eyes for a second and counting to ten. “Yeah, well, it’s mutual. Otherwise, I maybe wouldn’t still have this problem I’m coming to you for.”

“Hmm…” Mr. Richards stared at Eddie, looking him up and down. “All right, my interest is piqued. Come on in.”

Eddie let out a sigh of relief, the children following him inside and the door closing behind them all.  He looked around the room, finding it empty of anyone except the Richards. That made Eddie’s third stroke of luck in the last 24 hours.

As he walked further in, Mr. Richards head retracted to a body that was all stretched out like a human pretzel, his arms reaching across the room to pick up a mug and bring it back, stirring it without spilling a drop.

“So, how can I help you, Mr. Brock?”

“I need to isolate a chemical or series of brain chemicals so I can, er… find substitutes I can take on a regular basis,” Eddie said.

Mr. Richards frowned. “That doesn’t sound like something you would need _my_ expertise on. Why not go to your medical professional?”

“V? Baby? Wanna come out now?”

Eddie’s clothing rippled, and part of the jacket sleeve came away, forming into Venom’s face.

“We do not like hospitals. Or doctors.” He paused, bobbing his head. “Except Dan. Dan is okay.”

“Whoa! That is fascinating.” Mr. Richards put down the coffee mug and his hands grabbed absently for something on his table, even while his head stretched out to peer at Venom’s. Eddie felt like he was under a microscope.

“Ah, before you do any scanning – just know that MRI’s are out,” Eddie cautioned.

“MRI’s hurt us,” Venom said.

“Do they?” Reed mused. “So what are you? A parasite?”

Venom hissed. “Easy, V,” Eddie murmured, scratching at his head. “Venom’s an alien. They need a host to survive Earth’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, they also need… certain chemicals as food. We’ve found chocolate helps, but short of starving them, which is not an option, well…”

“And the man of iron won’t help,” Venom growled.

“So what _have_ you been subsisting on?” Reed asked.

“Brains,” Venom grinned. Eddie could hear the kids gagging behind him. “And tater tots.”

Reed blinked. “Um… well, I have to say, at first glance, those two things don’t have much in common, but I’ll have to run some tests to be sure.”

“The tater tots don’t actually give any nutritional value,” Eddie hurried to explain. “V just likes them.”

“Ah, like junk food.” Reed leaned back. “So basically, you want me to assist you in finding a suitable chemical substitute to act as the nutrients your alien symbiote needs to survive so that the two of you don’t have to go and eat peoples gray matter?”

“Exactly,” Eddie said, pointing a finger gun at Mr. Richards emphatically. “I mean, we make sure it’s nobody _innocent_ , you know what I mean? Plenty of bad guys out there, but…” Eddie wavered his hand in a back and forth motion. “Kinda makes me uncomfortable.”

“Totally understandable.” Mrs. Richards said, her face a little pale at the idea that Eddie and Venom were eating people. She looked at the kids. “Guess you weren’t kidding when you said it was a matter of life and death. You just didn’t say _whose_.”

“Actually, it’s kind of everyone’s, isn’t it?” Alex pointed out. “If you think about it?”

“Yeah, the bad guys he was eating –“ Jack said.

“And Venom and Eddie, because he’d _starve_ if they can’t find another way –“ Julie said, glaring at Jack. Jack rolled his eyes.

“And Venom saved my life!” Katie blurted.

“Well then, I’d say it’s time to repay his favor,” Reed said. “Let’s get to work.”

***~~~~~## <<<<<<<<~~~~~~~>>>>>>>##~~~~~***

Despite his willingness and enthusiasm, as well as his genius, Reed did not, in fact, find an answer right away. Soon enough, Dr. McCoy had joined Reed, the kids departing to meet with their parents for lunch.

Eventually, though, after much discussion, Venom suggested they bring Dan in, since he knew more than Eddie did about what had actually been going on during his and Venom’s first melding.

The suggestion was met with agreement from the two scientist and soon Dan was on speakerphone and spewing more medical jargon than Eddie knew how to keep up with.

Samples were taken and tests were run – as best they could without having human brains on hand anyway, with pretty much every human in the room (except Eddie, because he’d had time to get used to it) blanching at Venom’s easy suggestion to just ‘go out and get some”.

“Phenethylamine,” Reed announced triumphantly 9 hours later.

“Gazundheit,” Eddie yawned.

“No, that’s the chemical Venom needs. The chocolate was the key. That and… your relationship,” Reed said, waving his hand vaguely at them. “No judging here, already told you. Though I’m a little curious how that works – “

Sue cleared her throat.

“Ah, right, so, yes. That’s the chemical you need. Now luckily, it’s already out there, that’s not the problem,” Reed said.

“The problem is the dosage and the purity that Venom requires to function. Over the counter supplements won’t good enough. They’re too diluted for his purpose,” Hank said.

“So what does that mean?” Eddie asked. The elation he’d felt at the ease that the scientists had in figuring out what they’d needed was giving way to confusion and a bad feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy.

“It means that we’ll have to run some more tests and see if we can replicate something that would keep up with Venom’s metabolism. Give us your number so we can keep in touch. This may take us a while, I’m afraid,” Reed said.

“Unless we get lucky,” Hank said.

Eddie sighed. “We’re never that lucky.”

He staggered as Reed slapped his back. “Don’t worry! We’ll figure this out!”

“Yeah, sure,” Eddie said, deflating. He gave them his number without much hope he’d ever hear from them again, bid them good night ad left.

The expo center was nearly deserted as he did, and he sighed, making his way outside to his motorcycle. He straddled the bike, Venom coming out to form his helmet, just as the kids materialized at his elbow and he swore, clutching at his chest.

And now, he was being stared down by the littlest one, her hands on her hips and the kind of glare only a 6-year-old could give you, pigtails swinging behind her.

“You said a bad word, Mister Brock! You shouldn’t swear around kids, even if they  _are_ superheroes!” Katie stamped her foot.

Venom expanded from his helmet, slipping around his skin, forming a head and neck poking out of Eddies shoulder. “She’s right, Eddie. We should better role models.”

“Us? Role models? Well, that’s a laugh and a half,” Eddie griped incredulously.

“So what did Mr. Richards say?” Alex asked.

_He said I’m up shit’s creek,_ Eddie thought. “Um… well, they figured out what V needs, now they just need to figure out how to get it to him. Apparently, that’s not so easy.”

“That’s good, though,” Julie said. “Mr. Richards and Dr. McCoy are super smart! I bet they can help you and Venom!”

Katie ran forward. “We gotta get back before our parents notice we’re gone, and we’re going home to New York tomorrow, but I hope we get to see you again someday!”

She threw herself at Eddie and he had to throw his hands out to catch her, Venom wrapping themself around Eddies arm to peer down at her. She shifted and one of her small arms grabbed at Venom’s ‘neck’ and pulled them in.

“Is this a hug? Eddie, is she hugging us?” Venom asked.

“Yes, V, it’s a hug. Hug her back, okay?”

Venom curled around her and nuzzled her head happily. She pulled away and they looked at the other kids hopefully. Julie hugged them as well, though not with as much eager abandon as her sister had. Jack hemmed and hawed but when he saw Venom looking at him with those puppy dog eyes ( _where the hell did you even learn that V?_ Eddie wondered. _TV when you sleep_ , Venom whispered back) he caved and gave Venom a hug as well.

Alex was more reserved. He shuffled over and extended his hand to Eddie. “Good luck, man.” He looked at Venom. “To both of you. Please don’t eat any more people?”

“We will do our best. So we can be role models,” Venom said, reaching out to wrap himself around Alex’s hand and grinning madly.

“Good, that’s good. See you around,” Alex said. “C’mon, Katie, let’s go.” Picking her up, Alex’s white suit turned black just as Jack misted up and hid them from Eddie’s sight. A bright rainbow blur moved within the cloud and then the kids were gone.

“Fastest moving cloud I ever saw,” Reed said beside him.

Eddie jumped, but Venom just peered over his shoulder.

“Did you know the whole time?”

“That the Power kids have powers? Of course. It was hard not to make the connection,” Reed said. “But they think it’s a secret, so we’ll help them keep it. How their parents don’t know,” Reed shook his head. “I suspect tampering of some sort. So we all try and keep an eye on them, make sure they don’t get into too much trouble.”

Hank stepped up beside him, as did Sue.

“Of course, that’s hard, being superheroes ourselves,” Hank pointed out.

Nodding, Sue said, “But enough of us know that there’s usually someone around.”

Eddie stared. “That’s amazing.”

Reed grinned, and he stretched an arm around Sue and Hank to reach Eddie’s shoulder and pat him on the back, before petting Venom's head. “And something tells us, if those kids are ever out this way again, so will you.”

“We’ll do our best,” Eddie said. “They’re good kids.”

“Welcome to the club,” Reed said. “Now let’s talk brain chemicals…”

 

**Author's Note:**

> soooo.... what did you think?   
> p.s. feathers i'm blaming you. again.  
> hope you're happy :P


End file.
